Last night I had the pleasure of meeting the quilting world's Bad Boy, Alex Veronelli at Quilter's Way. Alex presented a fascinating video on how Aurifil thread is produced. It was incredible to "tour" the factory and see spun cotton transformed in to the spools I love so much.

As a bonus, the fabulous Victoria Findlay Wolfe also shared her quilts and creative process. This is the 3rd time I've heard this lecture and I'm still inspired every time! Her enthusiasm for quilting is infectious and how can you resist someone who reminds you that quilting should be fun!!! I have to remind myself to follow her lead, if something's not working... change it.

And I finally found the answer to all my thread emergencies? Aurifil by the kilo:-)

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

We had a rough start to the school year so sewing time has been limited lately. These Out to Sea Penny Square blocks were a sanity saver! They whip up quickly and it's fun putting together different color combinations.

I made enough to make my usual lap sized quilt but with a lot of encouragement from my peanut gallery I decided to go big and make a full-sized version for Audrey's room. Think long and hard about skipping the twin beds and putting your kids in full and queen sized;-)

They're outgrowing my design wall but it'll shrink once I start sewing everything together. Only 4 more penny squares to make and I'll be ready to start laying them out and sewing them all together. Can't wait!!!

Friday, September 12, 2014

Dave & I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this week. What could be better than to commemorate the event with a quilted table runner:-)

I made the top during yet another snow storm last winter. The plan was to have it done in time for Valentine's Day but as usual it got dropped while I figured out a plan for the back and quilting. I decided August was time to tackle the UFO pile so I pulled this out and got to it.

I love the texture the quilting gives it. I went with my usual heart paisley in the center section. It seemed like an endless expanse of white but it actually went pretty quickly. Doing the stitch in the ditch around the letters actually took much longer. It's easy to do but there are lots of starts and stops and turns. I finished it off with more paisley in the outer border.

The quilting really shows up on the back! I finally dug in to my Jennifer Paganelli stash... it's the perfect complement to all these pinks and reds.

I was really on a roll and I had a couple of extra blocks so I whipped up some matching coasters. Love these!!!

Friday, September 5, 2014

Are you ready for the Weekend? This is the first weekend in a looong time that we'll be staying put so it seemed like a good time to finally take pictures of my patchwork version of Amy Butler's Weekender.

I started by fussy cutting my main panel pieces from the awesome Melody Miller Ruby Star Sparkle. It's hard to see but following Oh, Fransson!'s fabulous Quilted Weekender tips I did FMQ around the stars and quilted along the argyle lines. I cut the straps at 5" wide to make them a little easier on the shoulders.

I went crazy on the pockets pulling lots of my favorite fabrics from my scrap pile and trying out different quilting designs on each section.

The lining is Garden linen by Ellen Luckett Baker. For this one I decided to add a gathered pocket. I cut the pocket using the Large Pocket template but then kept the sides straight rather than angling in. I find the pocket very useful but it pulls the sides of the bag in a bit. If I try this again I'll use a longer piece of elastic.

For those of you keeping count this is my 3rd (and possibly last) Weekender. I've already shared lessons learned from my Where in the World Weekender and Nauti Weekender but here are a few more that pertain specifically to the patchwork version.

Quilt, quilt, quilt! Because you're not using Peltex this bag is going to be slouchier than the original version. The denser the quilting the more structure your bag will have.

Make copies of your pattern pieces and either tape two together or trace them on to a bigger piece so you have a full-sized versions of the main panel and pocket pieces to use when trimming down your patchwork.

Once you've cut your quilted pieces to size zig zag around the edges to hold everything in place while you're assembling the bag.

This is one of the best examples of crowd sourcing in the quilting world. So many people have shared their tips and modifications for making this bag. If you're thinking of making one you owe it to yourself to read up on Pinterest or Flickr. Warning, if you weren't planning to make one you'll feel compelled to once you see all the awesome ones out there.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

My machine is back from it's spa vacation, tuned up and ready to sew. My kids are back in school. Obviously it's time to start something new!

When I dropped my machine off to get serviced all I could think of was "Can't sew!" which instantly made me want to make ALL the things:-) After an epic fail trying to start a new knitting project I turned to Pinterest and spotted Stitched in Color's adorable Penny Patch quilt. She ran a QAL last fall and has some fabulous tips. Even if you aren't a beginner you owe it to yourself to read her notes on choosing fabrics and quilting. I'm still in the throws of my nautical obsession so I started by grabbing what's left of the Out to Sea bundle I used to make my Sailing the Seven Seas pillow. I pulled all the motif prints to fussy cut. Where I could I made them 6 1/2" blocks but some are bigger and I'll figure out how to work them in later.

From there I shopped my stash for coordinates, cut those in 2" strips and 3 1/2" squares, and then started matching up my strips and making 4 patches.

I played with the color combinations. Some are monochromatic while others use contrasting colors. I did learn early that you have to be very careful when using directional prints if you want things to line up properly. That said, these go together quickly and easily... the perfect project to kick off sewing season!